About the Song of Songs

The Song of Songs is a poem about love. The main speakers are a
man, and the woman whom he loves.

At the start, the couple are not yet engaged. The woman is not
sure about the man. She twice sends him away. She does not want to share his
life.

But in the end, she learns to trust him. They marry. She is ready
to become a mother. And she is glad to work with him. Her attitudes have become
mature.

About the man

The man is King Solomon. Solomon was a great king, but he was not
a proud man. He sincerely wanted to help his people. He worked hard to make
their lives better. In fact, he liked to describe himself as a shepherd. A
shepherd is a man whose job is to look after sheep. Once, Solomonís father,
David, worked as a real shepherd. Solomon was never a real shepherd. As king,
he looked after people instead of sheep.

Actually, Solomon was not a good model for a husband. He had many
wives. He married these women for political reasons. For example, he wanted his
country to be at peace with Egypt. So he married the daughter of the king of
Egypt. We do not know whether Solomon really loved all these women. But the woman
in the Song of Solomon was different from these other women. Solomon loved her
deeply. She really was special to him.

The Song of Songs seems to describe the man as if he were a
better husband than Solomon. In fact, the man in the Song seems perfect. This
is not the only place in the Bible where there is such a description. Psalm 72
is also about Solomon. But the Psalm seems to describe a king who is a better
king than Solomon. Both passages are poetry. And both have the same
explanation. Although the passages speak about Solomon, they were really
describing God.

God is like Solomon in many ways. God is the greatest king. God
looks after his people. So God is also like a shepherd (Psalm 23). (A shepherd
is a man who looks after sheep. God looks after his people, rather than sheep.)
And God loves the people who obey him. Especially, God loves the people who
trust him completely. And these people are glad to do his work. Godís love is
perfect although our love for him is often weak. This is exactly like the man
in Song of Songs.

Solomon was the greatest king that the people in Israel ever
knew. He was richer than any other king. The country was at peace. He achieved
many great things and he built impressive buildings. So, he seemed to be the
right king to choose as a description of God. But Solomon was certainly not
perfect. He made terrible mistakes. At the end of his life, he even served
false gods because of his foreign wives. Other books in the Bible describe
these errors. But the Song of Songs does not. Instead, it gladly remembers the
happy days when Solomon was a young king. At that time, he was loyal to God.
And so, Solomonís love for a young woman reminded everyone about the love of
God.

About the woman

We do not know the name of the woman whom Solomon loved. The
Bible simply calls her Ďthe Shulamiteí. This probably means that she was from a
town called Shulem. This town was in the north of Israel. It belonged to the
family of Issachar.

Solomonís intentions for the woman soon become clear. He wants
her to be his wife. But she hesitates to join him.

Proverbs 31:10-31 is a poem from the same time as Song of Songs.
This poem lists the duties of a perfect wife. Clearly, such a woman was working
very hard. Although her husband was wealthy, she was never lazy. She made sure
that her husband never needed to worry about anything. So, he was able to carry
out his work as a judge. This woman looked after him and their children. She
also helped poor people. She impressed everyone by her hard work.

The woman in Song of Songs seems to hesitate for various reasons.
At the start of the Song, she does not seem mature enough. Her words sometimes
seem selfish. She may be a little lazy. But perhaps she also fears failure. In
other words, she thinks that she will never be perfect enough for Solomon.
Perhaps she knew the poem about the perfect wife in Proverbs 31:10-31. And she
was afraid that she would disappoint Solomon.

But in the end, this woman becomes mature. She accepts Solomonís
offer of marriage. She shares with him everything that she has. And she is glad
to join him in his great work. Like this woman, we often hesitate about our
love for God. Our reasons are often the same as hers. We may be glad to invite
God into our lives. But perhaps we are afraid to obey him completely. We may be
selfish or lazy. We may be unsure about the work that God wants us to do. Or we
may be afraid that we will fail. But God is always encouraging us to trust him
more. He wants us to become better Christians. He wants us to become mature (Hebrews
6:1).

About marriage

We know some marriage traditions that existed at the time of the
Song. We are not sure how these traditions relate to the events in the Song.

Parents would often arrange for the couple to become engaged
(Judges 14:2). The manís parents might select a wife that the man had not met
(Genesis 24:4).

The woman would receive gifts when she became engaged (Genesis
24:22). The manís family would arrange a procession to show the manís wealth
(Genesis 24:10). There would be parties (Genesis 24:28-33). The couple were not
yet married. They did not live together. And they did not have sex. But they
promised to marry. So they were different from people who were neither married
nor engaged (Deuteronomy 22:22-29).

The engaged couple had to wait for their wedding. For example,
Jacob waited 7 years for his wedding (Genesis 29:20). The man had to pay a
price for his bride (1 Samuel 18:23-25).

The wedding itself would a great event. At the wedding, the man
would come with his friends to his brideís home. The man would take his wife
away and lead her to his own home. The couple would be a married couple from
the first night of the wedding. But the parties continued for several days
(Judges 14:10-18).

About love

Our ideas about love today are often different from ancient ideas
about love. Today, we often think about love as a mere emotion. For example,
films always seem to show love as an emotion. Clearly, the couple in Song of
Songs felt this emotion. But they did not marry merely because of this emotion.
In fact, the woman twice decided to send away the man.

In ancient times, people thought above love as a decision. This
still happens in some societies today. The couple decide to marry. Sometimes
they may not even feel love as an emotion. But their decision is a declaration
of love. For the rest of their lives, they will give themselves to each other.
They will look after each other. And they will work hard to help each other.
This is real love. And in the end, the couple in the Song of Songs show such
real love to each other.

The meaning of the Song of Songs

The Song of Songs is, of course, a poem. It describes wonderful
plants and beautiful animals. It describes special places. And it describes
processions, dances and gardens. But the Song also has a more important
meaning.

Parables and allegories are different types of stories. Both
parables and allegories have a meaning. But there is a difference. Parables are
very simple. And they are easy to understand. But allegories are very complex.
Every detail in an allegory is important. And words have secret meanings.

There are many parables in the Bible. Jesus often used parables
to each the people. The meaning of these parables is never complex.

Allegories became popular many centuries after the time of the
Bible. People used to read allegories for entertainment, like novels today. And
many people thought that the Song of Songs was an allegory. They tried to find
secret meanings in its words. They thought that its real meaning must be very
complex. They tried to find new meaning in every sentence.

We think that the Song of Songs is more like a parable. In other
words, its meaning is simple to understand. Its meaning is:

∑†††† God loves us. His love does not
change.

∑††† But
we are not always loyal to him. Perhaps we are selfish. So we do not always
want to obey him.

∑††† God
wants us to trust him more. Then, in the end, we shall be glad to obey him. And
we shall be perfect for him.

Chapter 1

v1 The most beautiful of songs, by Solomon.

Verse 1

Solomon collected songs and proverbs (wise words). In the end, he
had 3000 proverbs and 1005 songs. We still have over 600 proverbs that he
collected. They are in the Book of Proverbs. Perhaps the songs in his
collection included some Psalms. Or perhaps only one song from this collection
still exists. This song is called the Song of Songs. And it was Solomonís
greatest song because it is about the love of God.

Love is a wonderful subject for a song. But the love of God is an
even nobler subject.

The young woman and her hope for the future

The young woman

v2 Your lips give me many kisses.

††††††††† Your love is
better than wine.

v3 Your *perfume smells wonderful.

††††††††† But your name
is better than the best *perfume.

††††††††††††††††††††† That
is why the young women love you.

v4 Take me away with you, and we will run away.

††††††††† Let the king
bring me into his room.

Friends

††††††††† We are very
happy for you.

††††††††† We will say
that your love is better than wine.

The young woman

††††††††††††††††††††† How
right the women are to love you!

v5 I am dark but lovely too, young women of
Jerusalem.

††††††††† I am dark
like the tents of Kedar.

††††††††††††††††††††† But
I am beautiful as Solomonís curtains.

v6 Do not stare at me because I am dark.

††††††††† The sunshine
has made me dark.

††††††††† My brothers
were angry with me.

††††††††††††††††††††† They
made me look after the *vineyards.

††††††††††††††††††††† So
I could not look after my own *vineyard.

v7††††† You are
the only person that I love.

Tell me where you feed your sheep.

††††††††††††††††††††† Tell
me where you rest your sheep at midday.

††††††††††††††††††††† Or
I will be like a woman who *veils herself.

††††††††††††††††††††† And
I will sit among the *flocks of your friends.

Solomon

v8 You are such a beautiful woman!

††††††††† Perhaps you
do not know where to go.

††††††††† Follow the
tracks of the sheep.

††††††††††††††††††††† Let
your young goats eat by the *shepherdís tents.

v9 Let me describe you, my *dear.

††††††††† You are like
a *mare of one of Pharaohís *chariots.

v10 Your hair is beautiful upon your cheeks.

††††††††††††††††††††† So
is your neck with its precious stones.

v11 We will make a chain of gold for you.

††††††††††††††††††††† We
will use silver to make you pretty.

Verses 2-4

This young woman likes Solomon very much. Her emotions feel very
strong. In fact, she probably thinks that she loves him. But her attitudes are
not yet mature. She wants the excitement of friendship with a very special man.
But she will have great responsibility as his wife. And she is not yet thinking
about this responsibility.

We do not think that the couple were actually kissing yet. The
woman was probably imagining his kisses. She was very excited because of him.

When we become Christians, our attitudes are not mature. We know
that God is wonderful. We want to thank him for his love. We are excited that
he chose us to follow him. But perhaps we are not yet ready to serve him. His
instructions seem like a problem instead of something wonderful. But God wants
us to become more mature.

Verse 4

In this verse, the other women reply. They agree that Solomon is
a wonderful man. Everybody seems to want his love.

Verses 5-6

The woman is aware that she is not perfect. She has two problems:

∑†††† She thinks that her skin is too
dark. She wants to marry the king. But she does not look like a princess.
Instead, she looks like a young woman who works outside. So she is afraid that
Solomon will not like her. But her fear is stupid. Solomon does not want a lazy
wife who is pale! Instead, he wants a wife who will share his work. He wants a
wife who will be responsible.

∑†††† She has not looked after her own
*vineyard. In other words, she has not done her own work. So she feels guilty.
In the end, she will do this work (8:12). But she will not be working for
herself. She will gladly give the profits to Solomon.

God does not want us to be lazy. God wants us to be responsible
people. And God wants us to work for him. We do not work for God because we
feel guilty. Instead, we gladly work for him because we love him (2 Corinthians
9:7).

Verse 7

The woman asks where she can meet Solomon. She does not want to
follow him at a distance. She wants to be with him.

Her thought was a beautiful thought. Christians too should want
to spend time with Jesus. There are other good things that we may enjoy. But
the time that we spend in prayer is special time.

Verse 8

In his reply, Solomon tells the young woman about his work.
Solomon pretends that he is looking after sheep. Really, Solomon is the king. His
work is to look after people. So he invited the young woman to join him as he
does his work.

Jesus also compared himself with a *shepherd (John 10:14). But
really, Jesus is the greatest king (Revelation 19:16).

Verse 9

The horses that pulled *chariots were strong and brave. These
were not lazy horses. They wanted to work hard. Pharaoh was the king of Egypt.
He did not travel without a *chariot. His horses took him wherever he wanted to
go.

Solomon seems to be discussing this womanís attitudes. Perhaps she
thinks that, as queen, she will have a life of leisure. But he is offering her
worthwhile work as his queen. She will help him to rule the country.

Verses 10-11

The woman was not sure that she was beautiful enough for Solomon
(1:6). But Solomon replies that she is very beautiful. And he will help her to
be even more beautiful.

The special meal

The young woman

v12 The king is at his table.

††††††††††††††††††††† The
smell of my *perfume is in the air.

v13 My lover is like a collection of *perfumes.

††††††††††††††††††††† This
lies all night between my breasts.

v14 My lover is like a bundle of henna flowers.

††††††††††††††††††††† These
flowers are from Engedi.

††††††††††††††††††††† It
is where people make wine.

Solomon

v15 How beautiful you are, my *dear!

††††††††† Oh! How
beautiful!

††††††††††††††††††††† You
have eyes like *doveís eyes.

The young woman

v16 You are so handsome, my *dear;

††††††††† You are such
a delight to me.

Our bed will be green.

v17 We can have wood from tall trees.

††††††††† We can use it
in our house.

††††††††††††††††††††† We
can use other types of wood for our ceiling.

Verses 12-14

Song of Songs 2:4 also seems to describe a special meal. Perhaps
the meal begins at 1:12 and continues until 2:7.

Engedi is a place with many beautiful gardens. But its situation
is unusual. It is in the middle of a desert. It would be difficult to get
flowers from Engedi. So the flowers are a special gift.

The *perfumes also seem to be a special gift. And the woman will
keep them next to her heart.

Verses 15-17

This is a very happy conversation. We think that, perhaps, the
couple are using friendly humour.

Solomon says that the womanís eyes are like doves (birds). Of
course, doves live outside. So she jokes that the couple would need a green
bed, like grass. Then the couple imagine the house. It could have tall trees
for its walls. And its roof would be branches that spread out.

So the couple joke that they should not really be inside. She has
already explained that she has to work outside (verse 6). And he replied that
he wants her to join him in his outdoors work (verse 8).

Chapter 2

The young woman

v1††††† I am
only a wild flower from Sharon,

††††††††††††††††††††† a
wild flower of the valleys.

Solomon

v2 You are like a wild flower,

††††††††† a wild flower
among *thorns.

††††††††††††††††††††† You
are my very *dear woman among women.

The young woman

v3 You are like an apple tree.

††††††††† This tree is
among the trees of the forest.

††††††††† This is what
you are like among young men.

††††††††† I sit in your
shade with great pleasure.

††††††††††††††††††††† Your
apples taste good. They are sweet.

v4 He has taken me to his house.

††††††††† It is where
he has special meals.

††††††††† Everyone can
see how much he loves me.

v5 He has made me strong again with his fruit.

††††††††† I feel much
better with his apples!

††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† I
am weak with love.

v6††††† His left
hand is under my head.

††††††††††††††††††††† And
he touches me softly with his right hand.

v7 Women of Jerusalem, make a promise to me.

††††††††† Think about
the wild *gazelles and *deer as you make this promise.

††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† Do
not think about love until the right time.

Verses 1-3

The couple continue their happy conversation. But the subject
changes. The couple talk about special plants that grow among wild plants. A
beautiful wild flower could grow among *thorns. A fruit tree could grow in the
forest. But we do not usually find such special plants among wild plants. It
would be a rare and wonderful event.

Solomon and the young woman had discovered each other. So they
were very excited.

When we discover Godís love, we are very excited. It is wonderful
to know that God loves us. But God is also very pleased that we are starting to
love him (Luke 15:4-7, Luke 15:21-24).

Verse 4

Many young women like Solomon (1:3; 2:2). But this young woman is
very special. Solomon makes a party for her. And he wants everyone to know that
he has chosen her.

Verse 5

But this young woman does not seem to appreciate Solomonís
attention. She is not still excited. Instead, she complains that she feels
weak. Solomon has provided wonderful food to make her strong.

Verse 6

Perhaps this woman is so weak that she falls. Perhaps Solomon has
to hold her so that she does not hurt herself. His touch is gentle.

She should be very excited that he is touching her. But instead,
she seems afraid. Their love seems to be developing too quickly. She is not
sure that she is ready for him yet.

Verse 7

So she asks the other women to make a promise. She reminds them
about wild animals called gazelles and deer. These animals do not mate before
the proper time of year. And, like them, she does not want to marry Solomon
until she is ready.

This young woman is not yet ready to be Solomonís wife. She loves
him. But her attitudes are not yet mature enough.

As Christians, we often love God deeply. But our attitudes are
not always mature. God invites us to serve him. But we hesitate. God wants us
to work for him. But we have other ideas. So we do whatever we want to do. We
are not always loyal to God. But God still loves us. And he will teach us to
love him better, if we are ready to learn.

Solomon proposes to the young woman

The young woman

v8 Listen! My lover!

††††††††† Look! Here he
comes!

††††††††† He is jumping
across the mountains.

††††††††††††††††††††† He
is jumping over the hills.

v9 My lover is like a *gazelle.

††††††††† Or, like a
young *deer.

††††††††† He is like an
animal that can run fast.

††††††††† Look at him,
as he stands next to the wall.

††††††††† He looks in
through the window.

††††††††††††††††††††† He
looks through the wooden bars.

v10 My lover speaks to me.

Solomon

Come then, woman whom I love.

††††††††††††††††††††† My
*dearest, come with me.

v11 Look, the winter is over,

††††††††††††††††††††† the
rains have come and gone.

v12 Flowers appear in the country;

††††††††† birds are
singing.

††††††††† In the
fields, people can hear the song of *doves.

v13 Young *figs are growing on the *fig trees.

††††††††† Smell the
flowers on the*vines.

††††††††† Get up, my
*dear, my beautiful lady.

††††††††††††††††††††† Come
with me.

v14 You are like a *dove that hides in holes in the
cliffs.

††††††††† It is as if
you are hiding in secret places in the cliffs.

††††††††† Let me see
your face.

††††††††† Let me hear
your voice.

††††††††† Your voice is
so pleasant,

††††††††††††††††††††† and
your face is so lovely.

v15 Catch the foxes for us.

††††††††† These little
foxes spoil the *vineyard.

††††††††††††††††††††† There
are flowers in our *vineyard now.

The young woman

v16 My lover is mine,

††††††††† and I am his!

††††††††† My lover eats
among the *lotuses.

v17 Turn, my lover,

††††††††† until the day
begins.

††††††††† And until the
shadows go away.

††††††††† You should be
like a *gazelle,

††††††††† or a young
*deer on the mountains of Bether.

Verses 8-9

Solomon visits the woman. But he does not enter her room. He
stands outside and he calls her.

His character reminds her of a shy animal. He seems to behave
like the animals that she spoke about in verse 7.

We think that Solomon was simply behaving politely. He did not
want to be alone with the young woman. He wanted to be fair to her. He did not
want to force her to join him. He simply wanted to invite her. She could either
agree to or refuse his invitation.

God is also very gentle with us. He does not force us to obey
him. He wants us to obey him because we love him. So he allows us to choose
what we shall do.

Verses 10-13

This is a beautiful invitation. It is a description of spring.
Solomon starts with a description of the country at the end of winter. Then he
describes the start of spring. And now it is the time when animals mate. In
fact, it is the time when she expected to be ready for him (verse 7).

Verses 14-15

So he is now inviting her to join him. There is work for them to
do together. She suggested that she wanted to look after her *vineyard (1:8).
In springtime, the farmers need young workers to look after the *vineyards.
They have to chase away the foxes.

Of course, Solomon was the king. So we do not really suppose that
he had to chase the foxes. But the couple always used events in the country to
describe their love. So perhaps Solomon really wanted her to help with other
problems.

God is very great. He does not need our help to do his work. But
he chooses to work with us. He gives us responsibilities. And this is a great
honour for us (Matthew 25:34-40). God will reward us when we do his work
(Matthew 25:21).

Verse 16

The young woman does not seem to think seriously about the
invitation. She does not agree that the time is right. Solomon said that she
was like a flower (2:2). But she said that he had plenty of flowers to look at.
He was like a wild animal that lived among the flowers. In other words, she was
saying that he had other women to look at. She was speaking as if she were as
important as him. Or, as if his invitation did not matter to her.

Verse 17

So she told him to go away. If he was like a shy animal, then he
should go back to the hills. She would not join him.

Her decision was stupid. But he respected her. He went away.

Sometimes we may refuse to allow God to work in our lives. God
will allow us to do our own things. But he still loves us. He still encourages
us to trust him.

And when we are ready, he will be waiting for us.

Chapter 3

The young woman looks for Solomon

The young woman

v1 At night, when I was on my bed, I looked for my
man.

He is the man that my heart loves.

††††††††† I looked for
him, but I did not find him!

v2††††† I will
get up now.

††††††††† I will go
round the city.

††††††††† In the
streets and squares,

††††††††† I will search
for the man that I love.

††††††††† So I looked
for him but I could not find him.

v3††††† The
guards who go about the city found me.

††††††††† I asked them,
ĎHave you seen the man that I love?í

v4††††† As soon
as I left the guards, I found my man.

††††††††† I found the
man that I love.

††††††††† I held him,
and I would not let him go.

††††††††† Then I took
him to my motherís house.

††††††††† It was the
room where I was born.

v5††††† Women of
Jerusalem, make a promise to me.

††††††††† Think about
the wild *gazelles and *deer as you make this promise.

††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††† Do
not think about love until the right time.

Verse 1

After Solomon proposed to the young woman (2:12), she sent him
away (2:17). Soon, she is sorry about her decision. She cannot sleep. She hopes
that he will return to her. But she is afraid that she may never see him again.

Sometimes we may think that God has left us. Perhaps we do
something wrong, so we feel guilty. But God still cares about us. He wants us
to confess our wrong actions to him. Then he will gladly forgive us (1 John
1:9).

Verses 2-3

The woman got up very early in the morning. The time was so early
that the guards were still working. Their job was to protect the city during
the night. She is looking everywhere for Solomon. And she asks the guards to
help her. She seems desperate.

Solomon could have waited at the door. But he did not. He went
away from her. He did not go far. But he still left. So she had to look for
him.

Sometimes it feels as if we must look for God. Perhaps we refuse
to obey him. And then we are sorry. We pray. But perhaps we do not feel that we
are close to God again. God wants us to be humble. When we apologise to God, we
must be sincere. God is always kind. He will not refuse us if we are humble.
But he will oppose us if we continue to be proud (James 4:6-10).

Verse 4

When the young woman finds Solomon, she is not still proud. She
now realises that she needs him. And she wants to be his wife. Last night she
sent him away. Her proud words were very foolish. But this morning she invites
him into her home. She wants him to meet her mother. It was the tradition that
parents would arrange for the couple to become engaged (Judges 14:2; 2 Samuel
13:13).

Verse 5

The woman repeats her words from 2:7. But the meaning seems
slightly different. She agrees that now is the right time for her and Solomon
to become engaged. Their love feels wonderful. And she now knows that she needs
him.

The procession

The young woman

v6††††† Somebody
is coming from the desert.

††††††††† And men are
coming with clouds of smoke.

††††††††† They come
with *myrrh and *incense.

††††††††† They have a
wonderful smell.

v7††††† Look! It
is Solomonís carriage!

††††††††† Sixty (60)
soldiers guard it.

††††††††† They are the
best soldiers in Israel.

v8††††† All of
them are skilful with the sword.

††††††††† People have
trained them to fight.

††††††††† Their swords
are at their sides.

††††††††† They are
ready for any danger during the night.

v9††††† King
Solomon made the carriage for himself.

††††††††† The wood came
from Lebanon.

v10††† He made
the poles from silver.

††††††††† And it has a
gold base.

††††††††† A purple
cloth covers the seat.

††††††††† The women of
Jerusalem made the beautiful inside of the carriage.

††††††††† They made it
with grace.

v11††† Women of
Zion, come out and see King Solomon.

††††††††† Look at the
crown that his mother put on him.

††††††††† This is the
crown for his wedding.

††††††††† And he is so
happy because of his wedding.

Verse 6

The people in Israel loved special processions (Judges 21:19-23;
2 Samuel chapter 6). And they would organise processions for many reasons. So
we cannot be sure about the reason for this procession.

Perhaps the procession is because the king and the young woman
are engaged. Or perhaps it is their actual marriage procession.

Whatever the purpose of the procession may be, it reminds us
about Solomonís importance. Often in the Song, he behaves like any ordinary
young man. But Solomon was not merely an ordinary young man. He was the king.
In fact, he was Israelís greatest king.

So Solomon has his wonderful procession. The procession even
smells wonderful. The couple often speak about *myrrh and *incense. Such
beautiful smells seem to describe love well. Their love, like a beautiful
smell, makes them happy. And their love, like a beautiful smell, brings joy
into the lives of other people too.

Verses 7-8

An ordinary young man would ask his friends to lead him to his
bride. But Solomonís procession is much better. Israelís best soldiers act as
his guard. They are wearing their uniforms. They are carrying their swords.
These soldiers impress everyone who sees them. Everyone will realise that this
is an important procession.

Verses 9-10

The carriage is beautiful. Solomon designed it himself. He used
the best materials. He wants the procession to be perfect. He wants to impress
his young woman. And he wants everyone to know that they are engaged.

Everybody is glad because of their good news. So other women help
Solomon to make the carriage beautiful. Perhaps they arranged the flowers in
the carriage. Perhaps they made beautiful things for the carriage.

Verse 11

The smell is wonderful (verse 6). Perhaps people could smell the
procession even before they saw it.

Then the people would see the soldiers. They are impressive
(verses 7-8).

Then people would see the carriage. It is beautiful (verses
9-10).

At last, people would see Solomon himself. He is wearing a crown.

And it is a special crown (verse 11).

Chapter 4

Solomonís beautiful words about the woman whom he loves

Solomon

v1††††† My
*dear, you are so beautiful!

††††††††††††††††††††† Oh,
you are beautiful!

††††††††† Your eyes are
behind your *veil.

††††††††† They are like
*doves.

††††††††† Your hair is
like a group of goats.

††††††††† They are
coming down from the mountain called Gilead.

v2††††† Your
teeth are white like sheep whose wool is clean and neat.

††††††††† Each sheep
has its *twin.

††††††††† None of the
young sheep is alone.

v3††††† Your
lips are like a red ribbon.

††††††††† They are so
lovely when you speak.

††††††††† Your cheeks
are red behind your *veil.

††††††††† They are like
a *pomegranate.

v4††††† Your
neck is like a strong building.

††††††††† This building
stands above the castle that David built.

††††††††† Your neck is
round and smooth.

††††††††† A thousand
*shields hang on it.

††††††††† All these
*shields belong to soldiers.

v5††††† Your
breasts are like two young *gazelles.

††††††††† A *gazelle
can have *twins.

††††††††† These *twins
eat among the flowers.

††††††††† Your breasts
are like these *twins.

v6††††† I will
go to the mountain of *myrrh.

††††††††† I will go to
the hill of *incense.

††††††††† I will go
there until the day begins.

††††††††† I will go
there until the shadows disappear.

v7††††† You are
beautiful, my *dear!

††††††††† How perfect
you are!

Verses 1-3

The couple often use descriptions that seem strange to us today.
But they are describing things that they considered beautiful.

For example, wild goats on a mountain may not seem beautiful to
us. But people who have seen the goats may think differently.

We also need to realise that this is not the record of a
conversation. The Song of Songs is a poem. So the poet could write words that
the couple would be too modest to say. The poet was not merely trying to record
their words. He was also trying to show their attitudes.

Verses 1 and 3 mention a *veil. Young women used to cover their
faces when a young man was present. Perhaps they wanted to show that they were
modest. Or perhaps they did not want the man to stare at them. After the
wedding, they might remove the *veil. In Genesis 29:18-25, Jacob could not
recognise Leah because of her *veil. In some countries, women still wear *veils
today. Solomon cannot see her entire face because of the *veil. But he still
thinks that she is very beautiful.

Verse 4

Solomon seems to be describing her collar. The materials seemed
to shine. Or perhaps she had precious stones on a chain round her neck.

This sight reminded Solomon about part of Davidís castle. When
the soldiers did not need their *shields, they would hang them on the wall.
Everybody who saw the *shields would be glad. They would know that the country
was at peace.

Verse 5

In other words, she is still very young. Compare 8:10. In chapter
8, she will be a mature woman. And she will be a good mother.

Verse 6

Solomon reminds the woman about her words in 2:17. Then, she told
him to go away to the mountains. But now she wants him. So he jokes that he
will go to the mountains. But he is not going away from her. Instead, he
chooses the wonderful places where there are lovely smells. These smells will
remind him about their love.

Verse 7

In chapter 4, Solomon chooses nice words when he speaks to the
woman. These words remind her that they are engaged. (Or perhaps, they are
married.) He calls her:

∑†††† My *dear (verse 7). This means, Ďthe
woman whom I loveí.

∑†††† My sister (verse 10). Of course, she
was not really his sister. But he could speak to her as easily as he could speak
to a family member. And he could relax when he was with her.

∑†††† My bride (verse 10). This could mean
that the couple were already married. Or perhaps Solomon was excited to think
that they would soon be married. So he was already calling her Ďmy brideí.

Solomon

v8††††† Come
with me from Lebanon, my bride.

††††††††† Come with me
from Lebanon.

††††††††† Come down
from the top of Amana,

††††††††††††††††††††† from
the top of Senir, the top of Hermon.

††††††††††††††††††††† Come
from the lionsí cave.

††††††††† And from
where *leopards live in the mountains.

v9††††† I want
to love you with all of my heart, my sister.

††††††††† I want to
love you, my bride.

††††††††††††††††††††† You
gave me one look with your eyes,

††††††††††††††††††††† You
showed me one stone of your *jewels.

v10††† Your love
is a delight, my sister, my bride!

††††††††† Your love is
so much better than wine!

††††††††† Your *perfume
smells better than any *spice.

v11††† Your lips
are sweet.

††††††††† They are like
honey, my bride.

††††††††† Honey and
milk are under your tongue.

††††††††† Your clothes
have the smell of Lebanon.

v12††† My
sister, my bride, you are like a garden.

††††††††† This is a
garden that someone has locked.

††††††††† You are like
a place where there is fresh water.

††††††††† It is a
private place.

††††††††† You are like
a fountain that someone has closed.

v13††† These
plants grow in your garden:

∑†††† *pomegranates with the best fruit

∑†††† bushes and flowers that have a
beautiful smell

∑†††† v14 *perfume bushes and other
flowers

∑†††† many *spices

∑†††† trees with *incense

∑†††† *myrrh and the best *spices.

v15††† You are
like a fountain in a garden.

††††††††† You are like
a well of fresh water.

††††††††† This water
comes down quickly from the Lebanon mountains.

The young woman

v16††† Wake up,
north wind!

††††††††† Come, south
wind!

††††††††† Blow on my
garden.

††††††††† Then its
smell can spread everywhere.

††††††††† Let my lover
come into his garden.

††††††††† Then he can
taste its pleasant fruit.

Verse 8

We do not really think that the woman lived in these places.
These are wonderful places. But they are also dangerous places.

We think that Solomon was saying, ĎYou are so beautiful. I am
surprised that someone so beautiful has come from my own country. I would
imagine that you have come from elsewhere. I would like to imagine that you are
from Lebanon. There the mountains are high. And the plants have wonderful
smells. But there are also many dangers in those mountains. So let me rescue
you! You will be safe with me.í

Verses 9-11

Their love seems very special:

∑†††† She glanced at him. So he loves her.

∑†††† He saw the chain round her neck. And
he wanted her to be his bride.

∑†††† He prefers her love rather than the
best wine.

∑†††† He prefers her *perfume rather than
any other smell.

∑†††† Her words seem so sweet (pleasant).
He jokes that they are sweeter than honey.

∑†††† In the mountains of Lebanon, many
plants have beautiful smells. See verses 6 and 8. She seems to come from such a
place. When he is with her, he seems to be able to smell the air from the
mountains.

We might think that we are not important to God. Or, that God
does not really care about us. But the Bible teaches that such ideas are wrong.
God really does love us. He loves us so much that he sent Jesus to die for us
(John 3:16). God loves us, and he wants us to love him too (Mark 12:30).

Verses 12-15

In fact, the woman did not come from Lebanon. So Solomon uses
another description. Solomon had great knowledge about plants (1 Kings 4:33).
He knew about plants with beautiful smells from many countries.

Solomon imagines that the woman has collected these plants. He
imagines that she has a wonderful garden. But the garden is a secret garden.
Its gate has a lock. Nobody can enter the garden to smell its plants.

Such a garden would need a good supply of water. Israel is often
a dry country. And these plants would need plenty of water. So Solomon imagines
a fountain in the garden. If the woman is not from Lebanon, then perhaps her
water comes from Lebanon!

Of course, this garden does not really exist. Solomon is using
his imagination. Really, Solomon is saying, ĎYou are very special. I love to be
in gardens. I love to smell the beautiful plants. I love to see plants from
distant countries. But I feel happier with you than I have felt in any garden.
Unusual plants interest me. But you interest me more. Beautiful smells make me
happy. But when I smell your *perfume, I am even happier. I am happier, because
you are near to me.í

Solomonís words about the water mean, ĎA garden can become dry.
Then its plants will die. And everyone will leave the garden in despair. But I
shall never leave you. I always feel delight when I meet you. You always
surprise me. I am always excited because of your love.í Jesus used a similar
description in John 7:37-39.

Verse 16

Solomonís words are wonderful. But the young womanís reply is
also wonderful. She is pleased with Solomonís words. She wants him to share her
life. So she pretends to invite Solomon into her garden. And she tells him to
enjoy the fruit.

But the young woman is not selfish. She wants everyone to be
happy because of their love. She did not think that a beautiful garden should
be secret. She wants everyone to smell the beautiful smells.

Solomon is pleased because of her reply. Her attitudes are the
same as his. He is the king. And he believes that he should work hard. Then all
the people will benefit. And she is starting to have the same ideas.

Chapter 5

Solomon

v1††††† I have
come into my garden, my special young woman, my bride.

††††††††† I have
gathered my *myrrh and *spice.

††††††††† I have eaten
my honey.

††††††††† I have eaten
where the *bees store honey.

††††††††† I have drunk
my wine and milk.

Friends

††††††††† Friends, eat
and drink!

††††††††† Drink until
you are full of love!

Verse 1

In 4:12-15, Solomon said that the young woman was like a
beautiful garden. He described such a garden. It had beautiful fruit. And the
plants smelled wonderful.

In 4:16, the woman pretended that she had such a garden. She
invited Solomon into the garden. And she told him to taste the fruit.

Probably this garden did not really exist. The couple were merely
pretending. This idea of a garden seemed a wonderful description of their love.
In 5:1, they continue with this description.

Solomon says that he is now in the garden. She does not
disappoint him. And her garden does not disappoint him. He says that he has
found *myrrh and *spices. These plants smell wonderful. He has found honey,
wine and milk. Solomon would be very happy in such a garden. Of course, he
really means that he is very glad to be with this young woman.

And the coupleís friends encourage them. The friends can see that
the couple are in love. And the friends are happy because of Solomonís love for
the young woman.

Solomon invites the young woman for the second time

When Solomon first proposed to the young woman, she refused him
(Song 2:17 to Song 3:4). She soon felt sorry. She was sure that she had made a
terrible mistake. So she searched for him. And the couple were engaged.

We think that perhaps Solomon now wants her to become his wife. He
visits her again. But again, she is not ready for him.

The young woman

v2††††† I slept
but, in a dream, I awoke.

††††††††† Listen! My
lover is knocking.

††††††††† ĎOpen to me,
my special young woman, my *dear,

††††††††† my *dove, my
perfect young woman.

††††††††† My head is
wet with *dew.

††††††††† My hair is
damp because of the night.í

v3††††† I have
taken off my dress,

††††††††† I do not want
to put it on again.

††††††††† I have washed
my feet.

††††††††† I do not want
to make them dirty.

v4††††† My lover
put his hand through the opening.

††††††††† I was excited
because he was near.

v5††††† I got up
to open (the door) for my lover.

††††††††† *Myrrh was
falling off my hands.

††††††††† Liquid *myrrh
was falling from my fingers.

††††††††† It fell onto
the handles of the lock.

v6††††† I opened
for my lover.

††††††††† But my lover
had left. He had gone.

††††††††† I was so sad
because he had gone.

††††††††† I looked for
him but I could not find him.

††††††††† I called for
him but he did not answer.

v7††††† The
guards found me as they walked round the city.

††††††††† They hit me
and they bruised me.

††††††††† There were
guards on the wall.

††††††††††††††††††††† They
took away my coat.

v8††††† Make a
promise to me, women of Jerusalem.

††††††††† If you find
my lover,

††††††††† Tell him that
I am weak.

†††††† I am weak because of love.

Verse 2

Perhaps the young woman has gone to bed early. This fact may seem
unimportant. But the perfect wife in Proverbs 31:10-31 did not go to bed early.
The perfect wife was still working even by night. And the perfect wife was
never lazy.

But this young woman is already sleeping when Solomon visits. So
the author of the Song shows us that she is not yet mature.

Solomon knocks at her door. The passage is like Revelation 3:20.
In Revelation, Jesus asks us to invite him into our lives. Jesus is like
someone who knocks at a door. And our lives are like that door. We have a
choice. We can invite Jesus into our lives. Or we can refuse his love.

Solomon does not order the woman to open the door. Instead, he
gently appeals to her. He reminds her about their love. He speaks beautiful
words to her. He calls her Ďmy *dearí. He calls her Ďmy *doveí. And he calls
her Ďmy perfect young womaní.

Verse 3

We hear the womanís reply. And we can hardly believe her to be
the same young woman whom Solomon loves. She seems not to care about him. She
is only thinking about herself.

Her excuses seem very unimportant. She does not want to put on
her dress. And she does not want her feet to touch the ground. She has no
proper reason to send Solomon away.

There are never any proper reasons to refuse Godís love. We may
tell God to go away because we are lazy. We may refuse to spend time with him
because we have other plans. But such explanations are merely poor excuses.

Verse 4

Solomon tries to open the door. But there is a lock on the door.
He cannot enter. In 4:12, he said that she was like a garden. But there was a
lock on the gate. She replied (4:16) that she wanted him to enter. And she
wanted everyone to smell her beautiful plants.

These thoughts were wonderful. But they were merely ideas. The
real test was in verse 2, when he actually came to her door. But she has a
lock, so he cannot enter. She had said the right things. But the reality was
different.

We may make wonderful promises to God. And at church, we may speak
words of love to God. But the real test happens when we have troubles. Perhaps
we are at home or we are working. Our behaviour then should show our love for
God.

The young woman is excited when she briefly sees Solomonís hand.
Her attitudes change quickly. But she has already sent him away. She has
already failed her test.

Verses 5-6

The woman does not hesitate now. Her excuses do not matter now.
She rushes to prepare to see Solomon. She puts *myrrh, which has a beautiful
smell, on her hands. And she opens the door. But nobody is there. She is too
late.

Jesus told a story like this in Matthew 25:1-12. We must be
careful not to miss the opportunities that God gives us. We should always be
ready to do the things that God wants.

So the young woman is alone. She wanders round the city. She
walks through the streets. There would not be any lights in the streets. So the
city is dangerous at night. It is especially dangerous for a young woman who is
alone.

Verse 7

This is a very sad verse. The guards are very cruel. Their
behaviour is terrible. They laugh at the young woman. They hurt her. They hit
her. They even take away her dress, so that she is ashamed.

The guards thought that the woman was very stupid to be out
during the night. Only bad women would be outside during the night (Proverbs
7:9-10). Only evil people had a reason to be outside (Job 24:13-16).

Perhaps the guards do not believe that the woman is looking for
Solomon.

Perhaps they think that she has spent the night with another man.

Perhaps they imagine that she deserves punishment.

As we become more mature Christians, our responsibilities
increase (James 3:1).

And the devil may oppose us more (1 Peter 5:8-9).

New Christians make many mistakes. They do not need to worry
about their errors. We simply teach them to confess their evil deeds to God.
Then God forgives them, and they can learn to do the right things. It is as if
God is waiting for them to trust him again (3:4).

Mature Christians should not make the same mistakes as new
Christians. God will still forgive a mature Christian when that person
confesses his errors. But the results of these errors may be more severe. God
is training that person to be more responsible.

When Peter met Jesus, Peter was afraid. He told Jesus to go away.
But Jesus was not angry. He simply told Peter not to be afraid (Luke 5:8-10).
Later, Peter tried to tell Jesus that he was wrong. Jesus was stricter. He
warned Peter that Peterís ideas came from the devil (Mark 8:32-33). After the
soldiers arrested Jesus, Peter was afraid. Three times, he denied that he knew
Jesus (Mark 15:66-72). Johnís behaviour was much more mature (John 19:26-27).
So Peter was afraid when Jesus died. After Jesus became alive again, Jesus
called Peter to serve him for a second time (John chapter 21).

Verse 8

In 2:5, the young woman was also weak because of love. Then
Solomonís love seemed too great for her. She was with the man whom she loves.
And she was afraid.

Now she is weak again because of love. But Solomon is not with
her. She is again afraid. She worries that she has lost him. And she is afraid
that she will never be with him again.

In 2:7, she asked the women of Jerusalem to make a promise. She
did not feel ready for love. She repeated these words in 3:5. But then she
wanted his love. She was glad to be engaged to Solomon.

Now she asks the women of Jerusalem to make another promise. This
promise seems very sad. She does not dare to ask for Solomonís love again. She
merely asks the other women to remind him about her. She simply asks them to
tell him about her sad state. She seems to have hardly any hope.

Sometimes there can seem to be an interruption in our love for
God. The fault is always ours. Godís love is always perfect. But if we do not
confess our errors, the interruption may continue for years. In fact, the
interruption may seem permanent. We might believe that we are not still real
Christians. Or, that we shall never again love God as we used to. But God is
very kind. He does not forget us. He still wants us to trust him again. He
still wants us to know his love. He still wants to forgive us. So we should
confess any evil deeds. And we should trust him again. God is waiting for us to
return to him. He will not refuse us.

The young woman describes Solomon

The women of Jerusalem

v9††††† Beautiful
woman, how is your lover different from other men?

††††††††† Is your lover
better than other lovers?

††††††††† Is that why
you ask us to make this promise?

The young woman

v10††† My lover
is fair and red.

††††††††† He is
noticeable among ten thousand men.

v11††† His head
is like the purest gold.

††††††††† His hair has
curves.

††††††††† It is black
like a *raven.

v12††† His eyes
are like *doves.

††††††††† The *doves
are by a stream.

††††††††† The white
part of his eyes is like milk.

††††††††† It is as if
someone has set his eyes like *jewels.

v13††† His
cheeks are like *spices in a garden.

††††††††† Their flowers
give a *perfume.

††††††††† His lips are
like *lotuses.

††††††††† Liquid *myrrh
seems to fall from his lips.

v14††† His arms
have a good shape.

††††††††† They are like
gold.

††††††††† *Jewels cover
his arms.

††††††††† His stomach
is like smooth *ivory.

††††††††† He has covered
it with *jewels.

v15††† His legs
are like *marble columns.

††††††††† Someone has
set them on a gold base.

††††††††† He stands
tall.

††††††††† He is like
the finest *cedar tree in Lebanon.

v16††† Yes,
women of Jerusalem, this is what my lover is like.

††††††††† He has the
sweetest mouth.

††††††††† Everything
about him is lovely.

Verse 9

The poet who wrote the Song is very clever. While the woman is
still thinking about herself, she cannot find Solomon. She feels very unhappy,
because she sent him away. But the poet wants her to think about Solomon. When
she praises Solomon, she will find him.

When we think about ourselves, our thoughts are often selfish.
But selfish thoughts are not the right attitudes for a person who loves.

Sometimes we can only think about our own troubles. We may blame
other people. Or we may blame ourselves. Such thoughts are, in fact, selfish,
because we only want to think about our own situation. Instead, we ought to
pray, or, we ought to praise God (James 5:13).

The other women seem to have doubts about Solomon. They do not
love him like the young woman. They suppose that he is actually like any other
man. They make her explain why he is special to her.

But their words of doubt seem to encourage her to trust Solomon
again. Because of their doubts, she begins to praise him again. And she again
speaks the words of a woman who is in love.

Other people are often doubtful about our love for God. Their
doubts can upset us. But their doubts can make us more confident to speak about
God. If we concentrate on their doubts, we shall be sad. But if we think about
God, we shall be more confident.

Verses 11-16

The woman describes Solomon to her friends. Her description may
seem strange to us. But she is describing things that people thought to be very
beautiful. Or, things that were very special.

Some of her descriptions sound like gardens. There are trees and
flowers. There are beautiful smells. There are birds. And there are streams of
water.

Other descriptions sound like a building. And the building
contains the most expensive materials. There are gold and *jewels. There are
*ivory and *marble. There are bases and columns.

Solomon was a very rich king. His workmen built great palaces and
other buildings in Jerusalem. He used wood from Lebanon. The workmen cut flower
shapes into the wood. And he used much gold (1 Kings chapters 6-7). So perhaps
the woman was describing an actual building in Jerusalem. Or perhaps she was
describing the gardens near the great buildings (Ecclesiastes 2:4-6).

ĎEverything about him is lovelyí (verse 16). These are good words
for Christians to use when they praise God. God is perfect. He deserves our
honour. Nobody is like him. He is really wonderful. We should always praise
him.

Chapter 6

The young woman meets Solomon again

The women of Jerusalem

v1††††† Where
has your lover gone,

††††††††† most
beautiful among women?

††††††††† Tell us which
way your lover went.

††††††††† Then we can
help you to look for him.

The young woman

v2††††† My lover
has gone down to his garden,

††††††††††††††††††††† to
the places where *spices grow.

††††††††† He will eat
food from the garden.

††††††††† He will
gather flowers there.

v3††††† I belong
to my lover

††††††††††††††††††††† and
my lover belongs to me.

††††††††† It is he who
eats near the flowers.

Verse 1

The women of Jerusalem have heard the young womanís description
of Solomon. But they still do not realise why he is special. He seems to them
like any other man (5:9). They do not love him, as the young woman does. But
they are willing to help her. The man that she loves seems to have gone away.
And the women of Jerusalem think that they can find him.

People who do not love God cannot explain our attitudes. They do
not know why we love God. Perhaps they admire our sincere behaviour. Perhaps
they would even like to be like us. But unless they themselves trust God, they
will never really know Godís love. Until then, they will never know how anyone
could be in love with God. Even the idea will seem strange to them.

Verses 2-3

The women were kind when they offered to help. But the young
woman does not need their help. She remembered Solomonís character. So she
already knew where Solomon would be.

Jesus spoke about Christians as if they were sheep. At that time,
a man would look after a small group of sheep. The man would lead the sheep
into the fields. The sheep knew the manís character. And they could even
recognise his voice (John 10:2-5). So Jesus said, ĎMy sheep (people) listen to
my voice. I know them. And they follow meí (John 10:27). As Christians, we
learn Godís character. We learn how to trust him. And we learn to obey him.

The woman is right about the place where she can find Solomon. He
is not angry with her. Instead, he speaks kind words to her again. He still
loves her deeply.

Solomonís kind words to the young woman

Solomon

v4††††† You are
beautiful, my special young woman.

††††††††† You are as
beautiful as Tirzah,

††††††††††††††††††††† as
lovely as Jerusalem.

††††††††† You are as
wonderful as those great cities.

v5††††† Turn
your eyes away from me.

††††††††† They excite
me too much!

††††††††† Your hair is
long.

††††††††† It is like a
*flock of goats that are coming down from Gilead.

v6††††† Your
teeth are like a *flock of sheep.

††††††††† Their wool is
clean.

††††††††† Each sheep
has its *twin.

††††††††† None of the
sheep is alone.

v7††††† Your
cheeks are red behind your *veil.

††††††††† They are like
the halves of a *pomegranate.

v8††††† There
might be 60 queens.

††††††††† There might
be 80 women who live in the palace.

††††††††† There might
be too many *virgins to count.

v9††††† But my
*dove, my perfect young woman, is special.

††††††††† She is the
only daughter of her mother.

††††††††† Her mother
prefers her to any other person.

††††††††† The young
women see her and they praise her.

††††††††† There are
queens and women in the palace.

††††††††† They praise
her too.

Verses 4-7

Solomon was speaking to the young woman who had just sent him
away. But you would never guess this fact from his words. He speaks as if she
has always obeyed him. He has many kind words to say to her. He repeats some
phrases from chapter 4. He loves her as deeply as he used to love her. They had
been apart. But their love was still the same.

Some couples always remind each other about their past mistakes.
But God does not behave like this. He really forgives us.

Verses 8-9

In the end, Solomon would have 700 wives. And 300 other women
lived with him in the palace (1 Kings 11:3). So we can see that Solomon is
still a young man in this Song.

Solomon married these women for political reasons. They came from
many countries. Solomon married all these women so that his country would be at
peace. For example, he married the daughter of the king of Egypt. So Solomonís
country was at peace with Egypt. We do not think that this was a good plan. But
this was how Solomon behaved.

So Solomon had many wives. These women lived in his palace. They
were important women. But they probably did not really love Solomon. And he
probably did not love them. But the young woman in Song of Solomon was
different from these other women. Solomon really loved her. Everyone in the
palace realised this fact. Even the other queens approved of Solomonís love for
this woman. They all knew that she really was special.

Many Christians behave rather like Solomonís other wives. Such
Christians like to be Christians. And they are glad to receive Godís good
gifts. But they do not love God deeply. They do not try always to please God.
They will never become mature Christians. In fact, they do not even want to be
mature Christians.

We should be like the young woman who really loved Solomon. We
should want to obey God. We should try to become mature Christians. We should
learn the lessons that God teaches us.

Jesus taught us to love God with all our heart. And with all our
mind. And with all our strength. Jesus said that this is Godís most important
command (Mark 12:28-29).

The young womanís beauty

The women of Jerusalem

v10††† Who is
this woman?

††††††††† She seems to
shine like the dawn.

††††††††† She seems as
beautiful as the moon.

††††††††† She seems as
bright as the sun.

††††††††† She is as
wonderful as the stars.

Verse 10

Solomon may be the speaker. But we think that this verse is
probably the words of the other women. Solomon said in verse 9 that they were
praising the young woman. She impresses them. And they seem curious about her.

At the start of the book, only Solomon could see the young
womanís beauty. The other women did not seem to think that she was beautiful.
People might stare at her because her skin was dark (1:6). Even the young woman
herself did not seem sure that she was beautiful.

But at the start of the book, the young woman was still a girl.
Now she is older. And she is more mature. She has spent time with the king. And
she has learned how to make herself beautiful.

Now other women can see her beauty too. They do not still
complain that her skin is too dark. Instead, she is so beautiful that they
compare her with the brightest lights.

The young woman becomes Solomonís bride

The young woman

v11††† I went
down to the group of nut trees.

††††††††† I went to see
the young plants in the valley.

††††††††† I went to see
if the *vines were beginning to flower.

††††††††† Or the
*pomegranates were beginning to flower.

v12††† Then my
hope came true.

††††††††† I was next to
my prince.

††††††††† We were in a
*chariot.

††††††††† The *chariots
belonged to the king.

††††††††† I was with
people that I knew.

††††††††† This happened
before I realised it.

The women of Jerusalem

v13††† Come
back, come back, *Shulamite.

††††††††† Come back,
come back. Then we can stare at you.

Solomon

††††††††† Do not stare
at the *Shulamite!

††††††††† Do not stare
as she dances the Mahanaim dance!

Verse 11

Solomon wants to check whether it is spring again. The couple
often considered that spring would be the right time for their marriage (2:7,
2:10-13). Solomon often used *pomegranates as a description of the young
womanís face (4:3, 13; 6:7). Now he wants to see if she is ready for love.

Verse 12

Solomon is in a carriage again. There seems to be a procession.
Everybody is very happy for the king. He had waited for a long time to be with
the woman that he loves. But now she is ready for him. Now, she wants to go
with him.

At a wedding, the tradition was that the bridegroom would go to
the brideís home. Then he would take the bride to his own home. And everyone
would be very glad.

Verse 13

The other women do not want her to leave. They still want to
enjoy her beauty. They ask her to stay with them. But perhaps they are merely
pretending to ask her to stay. They know that she is now Solomonís bride. So
they must expect her to go with him.

Solomon replies. She is his bride. So now, he himself will look
at her. He wants to enjoy her beauty.

The woman may be called the Shulamite because she comes from a
town called Shulem. King David was Solomonís father. When David was very old,
his servants chose a woman called Abishag to live with him. Abishag was also a
beautiful young woman. It seems that she came from the same town (1 Kings
1:1-4).

However, the word Shulamite is similar to the name Solomon. The
couple are now married. So perhaps she now uses her husbandís name. In many
countries today, women use their husbandís surname after marriage.

We do not know anything about the Mahanaim dance. But perhaps it
was like the dance of the girls of Shiloh (Judges 21:21). As the girls danced
there, the men chose their wives.

Chapter 7

Solomon describes the young woman, who has become his bride

Solomon

v1††††† You have
*sandals on your feet.

††††††††† Your feet are
as beautiful as the feet of a princeís daughter!

††††††††† The curves of
your legs are like *jewels.

††††††††† They are like
the work of a skilled worker.

v2††††† Your
stomach is like a round cup.

††††††††† It shall
never have a lack of wine.

††††††††† Your *waist
is a heap of wheat.

††††††††† Flowers are
in a circle round it.

v3††††† Your
breasts are like two young *gazelles.

††††††††† A *gazelle
can have *twins.

††††††††† Your breasts
are like these young*twins.

v4††††† Your
neck is like a high, round building.

††††††††† Someone has
made the building with *ivory.

††††††††† Your eyes are
like the pools of Heshbon.

††††††††† These pools
are next to the gate of Bath Rabbim.

††††††††† Your nose is
like a high round building.

††††††††† This building
is in Lebanon.

††††††††† It points
towards Damascus.

v5††††† Your
head is better than a crown.

††††††††† It is like
the mountain called Carmel.

††††††††† Your hair is
like silk.

††††††††† It is long
and smooth.

††††††††† Although I am
the king, I am excited to see it.

v6††††† You are
so beautiful!

††††††††† And you are
so pleasant!

††††††††† My special
young woman, you are a delightful young woman!

v7††††† You are
tall,

††††††††† as tall as a
*palm tree.

††††††††† And your
breasts are like its plentiful fruit.

v8††††† I said,
ĎI will climb the *palm tree.

††††††††† I will hold
its fruit.í

††††††††† I would like
your breasts to be like groups of *grapes.

††††††††† I would like
your breath to smell like apples.

Verse 1

Solomon describes his beautiful bride. Perhaps he begins with her
feet because she is dancing (6:13). Her movements are very graceful.

Verse 2

He associates her *waist with wine and wheat. People make wine
from the fruit called grapes. Fruit and grain were the most important crops in
ancient Israel. Solomon speaks about plentiful wine and wheat. So, he was
describing a good harvest.

This verse is like 5:1. The woman does not disappoint Solomon.
She is able to provide everything that he needs. She will work hard to supply
everything for their family. But she is not merely a servant of her husband.
All her actions show grace and love. She is like someone who arranges flowers
round the wheat harvest.

Our work for God should not be merely a duty. We work for God
because we love God. Every action should be an expression of our love (2
Corinthians 9:7).

Verse 3

This young woman is almost perfect for Solomon. But there is one
problem. She is still very young. Solomon needed a son, who would be the king
after him. But Solomonís bride is not yet ready to become a mother. Solomon
waited eagerly (verse 8).

In the Song, Solomon often has to wait. He needed to be patient
twice when she sent him away. Now he must be patient again while he waits for
her to become a mother.

God is very patient with us. He wants us to learn many new
qualities (2 Peter 1:5-8). He wants us to be mature Christians (Hebrews 6:1).
In the end, we shall be perfect for him (1 Corinthians 13:9-13).

Verses 4-6

This woman reminded Solomon about the country that he ruled.
Solomon was a good king. He felt as if he belonged to his country. This woman
was now his bride. And Solomon felt as if he belonged to her, also. But
Solomonís duty to his country did not oppose his duties to his bride. Because
of his bride, Solomon would love his country better. She would help him as he
ruled his country.

When he saw his bride, he also thought about his country.

And God does not love us less because he also loves other people.
God wants us all to receive everything that he has for us. So we should be glad
when other people trust God (Romans 11:11-12). God cares about people from many
nations (John 10:16). We should be glad when God sends us to work for him. We
should even be glad to go to people whom we may not like (Acts 1:8; John 4:9).

Verses 7-8

The womanís problem is that she is not yet ready to become a
mother (verse 3). But Solomon knows that the womanís body will soon become
mature. He speaks about the *palm tree. The fruit on the *palm tree is
plentiful. He says that she will be like the *vine. The *vine also has
plentiful fruit. So he is confident that she will have children.

The fruit on a tree is very small before it is ripe. But the
fruit develops quickly. It becomes much bigger. The young woman was not yet
ready to be a mother. Her breasts were not yet ready to feed a baby. But
Solomon was confident that they would not have to wait long.

The young womanís new attitudes as Solomonís wife

The young woman

v9††††† I would
like your mouth to smell like the best wine.

††††††††† I hope that
the wine goes straight to my lover.

††††††††† I hope that
it flows gently over his lips and teeth.

v10††† I belong
to my lover,

††††††††† and he
desires me.

v11††† Come, my
lover, let us go to the country.

††††††††† Let us spend
the night in the villages.

v12††† Let us go
early to the *vineyards.

††††††††† We will see
if the *vine has begun to flower.

††††††††† Perhaps the
*vines have flowers.

††††††††† We will see
if the *pomegranate trees have begun to flower.

††††††††† There I will
give you my love.

v13††† You can
smell the *mandrakes.

††††††††† And you can
smell all the special fruits that are near us.

††††††††† Yes, I have
saved many pleasant things for you, my lover.

††††††††† There are
both old and new things.

Verse 9

The young woman wants Solomon to receive everything that she can
give to him. She does not want to keep anything for herself.

Verse 10

This verse shows how much her attitudes have changed:

∑†††† In 2:16, she spoke as if her
opinions were as important as his opinions. So, she had the right to send him
away. She was glad that she impressed this noble young man. But her feelings
about him were not mature.

∑†††† In 6:3, her ideas are similar. But
she does not speak as if she is so important. Solomonís attitudes seems much
more important to her than her own attitudes.

∑†††† In 7:10, her attitudes are mature.
She is not still thinking about herself. Her own feelings do not seem
important. Solomonís love for her seems more important than anything else. She
does not even mention her own emotions.

When we first become Christians, our attitudes are not mature. We
are glad that God loves us. But perhaps we do not really want to give him an
important place in our lives. We may care more about our own feelings than we
care about God.

As we become mature Christians, our attitudes change. We do not
still care about our own feelings. Our only desire is to serve God. And our most
important emotion is that we appreciate Godís great love.

Verses 11-12

The young woman is now showing the attitudes of a good wife. Like
him, she wants to look at the plants. Like him, she wants to work in the
country. Like him, she wants to know the state of the fruit plants. These are
the attitudes of the perfect wife in Proverbs 31:10-31.

Of course, Solomon was not really a farmer. He was a king. But to
Solomon, a kingís work seemed like a farmerís work. Both kings and farmers look
after the land. Of course, they do this in different ways. Farmers look after
the soil and the plants. Kings look after the people who live on the land. And
kings look after the borders of the country.

So perhaps the woman really means that they should make a royal
visit to the country. They can see whether the people have problems. If so, the
king may be able to help them. Christians look after other people because God
loves us. We show our love to him by helping other people (Matthew 25:34-45).

Verse 13

The mandrake was a special plant. People used it to help women to
have babies (Genesis 30:14-16). So we can see that Solomonís bride now wants to
become a mother.

She adds that she has many beautiful things to share with
Solomon.

Jesus seems to refer to this verse in Matthew 13:52. He speaks
about a man who has studied the Bible. This man has learned about Godís law. So
he has learned to obey God. But this man has now learned from Jesus. The man
has heard about Godís rule in heaven. And the man has gladly believed Jesus.
Jesus said that such a man has many good things. They are both old and new
things. It is as if the man has a store room. And the room is full of good
things.

We should not merely obey God. We should also love God. Then we
too will have many beautiful things for his delight.

Chapter 8

The young womanís pleasure in her work for Solomon

The young woman

v1††††† I wish
that you were like my brother.

††††††††† My mother fed
him at her breasts.

††††††††† Then, if I
found you outside, I would kiss you.

††††††††† Nobody would
say that it was wrong!

v2††††† I would
lead you to my motherís house.

††††††††† She is the
person who taught me.

††††††††† I would give
you wine with *spices.

††††††††† And you could
drink wine from my *pomegranates.

v3††††† Your
left arm is under my head.

††††††††† And your
right arm holds me.

v4††††† Women of
Jerusalem, make a promise to me.

††††††††† Do not think
about love until the right time.

Verse 1

Solomon said that the young woman was like a sister to him (5:1).
In chapter 8, she copies this idea. She pretends that he is her brother. But
her words may surprise us. She pretends that she is a young girl. And that
Solomon is her little brother. She pretends that Solomon is younger than her.

At the time of the Bible, parents wanted to have very large
families. For example, King David had 7 brothers. But the parents would not
look after all the children constantly. Instead, they taught the older children
to look after the younger children (1:6). So a little girl would look after a
younger brother. This young woman has become Solomonís wife. She believes that
she must work hard in order to look after Solomon (Proverbs 31:10-31). But her
many duties do not upset her. In fact, she is very happy. She is so happy that
her work seems like a game. She speaks as if she is merely playing, like a
little girl with her brother.

Her pleasure is immense. A little girl may kiss her younger
brother as she plays. And so the young woman kisses Solomon. She is working
hard. But whenever she has a spare moment, she expresses her love to Solomon.

In the book of Philippians, Paul had been working hard for God.
Paul even called himself Ďa servant of Christ Jesusí (Philippians 1:1). Now he
was in prison because he was a Christian (Philippians 1:7). But Paul was not
sad. He was still working for God continuously (Philippians 1:12-13). And he
felt great joy (Philippians 1:4, Philippians 1:18, Philippians 2:2, Philippians
3:1, Philippians 4:4). He trusted God completely (Philippians 4:12-13). He
loved God deeply (Philippians 3:8-11). He prayed often. And he always prayed with
joy (Philippians 1:3-4).

Verses 2-3

The young woman continues to speak as if she is Solomonís older
sister. She would take her little brother back to her mother. This is a clever
description. The young woman is reminding Solomon about 3:4. Then, she took
Solomon to her mother. We think that the couple became engaged then.

The young woman prepares a beautiful drink for Solomon.
Pomegranates are a special fruit. Solomon spoke often about his love of
pomegranates (6:7, 7:12). The juice of pomegranates smells very beautiful.

In verse 3, the young woman repeats 2:6. Then he held her because
she was too weak. Now she is strong. And she is working hard. But there is
still time for their love. In fact, their love seems better than in chapter 2.
Then she was not sure about him. And now she really enjoys his love.

Verse 4

She has said similar words before, in 2:7 and 3:5. But now her
meaning seems different. Then she was not ready for Solomon. But now she knows
his love. Perhaps she is advising the other women. They must not let emotions
control their behaviour. They should decide carefully about marriage.

When we choose to love God, we are making a very important
decision. God asks us to give our whole lives to him (Luke 14:25-30). Buy many
people allow their emotions to guide them. Sometimes they are for God. And
sometimes they are against God (Revelation 3:15-16). God wants us to trust him
completely. So we must decide carefully. God promises wonderful things to the
people who love him (1 John 5:2-5). But if we only want to satisfy our own
desires, we do not really love God (Galatians 5:19-21).

Love and reality

The women of Jerusalem

v5††††† Who is
this coming from the desert?

††††††††† She is
leaning on her lover.

The young woman

††††††††† I woke you
under the apple tree.

††††††††† It was the
place where you were born.

††††††††† It was the
time when your mother struggled at your birth.

v6††††† Keep me
near you like a *seal.

††††††††† Keep the
*seal on your arm

††††††††† because love
is as strong as death.

††††††††† Strong love
is as strong as death.

††††††††† It quickly
becomes like a flame.

††††††††† And that
flame becomes a great fire!

v7††††† If love
were like fire, then even plentiful water could not put it out.

††††††††† A river can
be powerful.

††††††††† But nothing
can stop our love.

††††††††† A man might
offer all his wealth for love.

††††††††† But someone
else would not want this offer.

Verse 5

The young woman is joking that Solomon is like her younger
brother. But the other women can see the reality. Really, she depends on
Solomon. She has to lean on him. He is strong, and he supports her.

We have the same experience as we work for God. We may work very
hard. But we are not working alone. We can only do Godís work because he supports
us. We depend completely on him.

The couple are coming from the desert. They have been visiting
the country that Solomon rules (7:11). They have seen the beautiful places
(7:12). But now they are also visiting places where there are serious problems.

As we become mature Christians, God may prepare more difficult
tasks for us (2 Corinthians 11:23-29). But God never sends us alone to do his
work. God is always with us (Matthew 28:20).

The young woman continues her story about the children. But now
her story seems more serious. She speaks about the struggle when a baby is
born. Now she is not merely playing. Sometimes a girl must work hard when she
looks after her baby brother. Sometimes the mother is too weak to help the
girl. So the girl cannot play. She must stay with her younger brother
continuously. The two must always be together.

The young woman needs to be with Solomon continuously. They must
not leave each other. Their work is difficult. She depends on him.

Verse 6

People used a *seal instead of an envelope. The *seal would
attach the papers firmly. The sender would place his own mark on the *seal.
Nobody else would use the same mark. Solomon was the king. So his mark was very
important. Solomon would place a *seal on each new law that he made. People
knew that the law was genuine because of Solomonís mark.

The young woman wants to be like a *seal. It is as if she wants
to have Solomonís mark.

The Bible also expresses such ideas elsewhere. It is as if God
places a mark on his people (Galatians 6:17; Revelation 7:3-4). But it is as if
the devil also places a mark on his own people (Revelation 13:16-17).

In Ephesians 1:13-14, Godís *seal means the gift of the Holy
Spirit. God gives us the Holy Spirit to help us to know him better (Ephesians
1:17). Godís Holy Spirit will protect us through this life (Ephesians 6:10-18).
The Holy Spirit helps Christians to love each other (Ephesians 4:3). The Holy
Spirit teaches the Bible to us (Ephesians 6:17) and he helps us to pray
(Ephesians 6:18).

Verse 6 becomes very serious. The young woman has been very happy
with Solomon. But her attitudes are now mature. She realises that she will not
always be happy. They may suffer terrible troubles. She cannot depend on her
feelings. Her love for Solomon is not a mere emotion. She has decided to be his
wife. Whatever happens, she will still love him. Nothing can ever change her
mind.

Love is like death because her decision to marry was permanent. A
dead person cannot return to life. And she can never return to the same state
that she had before her marriage.

Love is like fire because love is very powerful. Her love for
Solomon will not reduce because each day she will work to increase their love
for each other. Her happy feelings will not last. But she realises that love is
not merely happy feelings. Love is the decision that they made to look after
each other. And even if they have troubles, that decision will become stronger.
In fact, their troubles might even make their love stronger.

Our decision to love God should not be merely an emotion.
Instead, we should make a firm decision always to trust him (James 1:6-8). We
cannot forget him if we have problems. Instead, we should trust him more
because of our troubles.

Verse 7

Water can put out a fire. But nothing can stop real love.

ĎNothing can separate us from Christís love. Trouble cannot
separate us from Christís love. Pain cannot. People who oppose us cannot.
Hunger cannot. Even if we are naked, there is no difference. Even danger and
war cannot separate us from Christís loveí (Romans 8:35).

God loves us deeply (John 3:16). Jesus died for us because of his
love for us (1 John 4:10). And we must trust Godís love (1 John 4:16).

Love is precious. It is more valuable than anything that we can
own. But nobody can buy love. And nobody can buy Godís gifts (Acts 8:18-22).
Godís love is a free gift (Isaiah 55:1-3).

A young sister

Friends

v8††††† We have
a young sister.

††††††††† And her
breasts are still small.

††††††††† A man might
ask her to marry him.

††††††††† But we will
not know what to do.

v9††††† If she
becomes like a wall,

††††††††††††††††††††† we
shall build her a silver *parapet.

††††††††† If she
becomes like a door,

††††††††††††††††††††† we
shall put *cedar boards round her.

Verses 8-9

This young sister is still a child. Once, Solomonís wife was like
this girl. Solomonís wife was not always a mature woman (4:5). But now she is
mature. And she has become the queen. So she is the model for this young girl.
The girlís relatives hope that the girl will also marry well. They want to work
out how the girl can become a beautiful woman. Then perhaps she will be able to
marry a great man like Solomon.

So the relatives have a plan for the girl. They will make her
more beautiful. And they will improve her until she is perfect for marriage.

Silver is an expensive metal. And *cedar is an expensive wood.
People did not use such materials in ordinary buildings. But they might use
such precious materials for a palace.

God does not want Christians to be selfish. He offers his love to
everyone. As Christians, we should tell everyone about Godís invitation
(Revelation 22:17). And we should teach newer Christians how they can love God
more.

Solomonís wife makes him content

The young woman

v10††† I am like
a wall.

††††††††† And my
breasts have grown strong.

††††††††† They are like
the buildings that defend a wall.

††††††††† I have made
my husband content.

v11††† Solomon
had a *vineyard in Baal Hamon.

††††††††† Men rented
his *vineyard from him.

††††††††† And each man
brought fruit to him.

††††††††† This fruit
was worth 1000 pieces of silver.

v12††† But my
own *vineyard is mine to give.

††††††††† The 1000
pieces of silver are for you, Solomon.

††††††††† And 200 pieces
of silver can pay the workers who look after the *vineyard.

Verse 10

At the start, perhaps we were not sure whether the young woman
would ever become the queen. She was very young. Her attitudes were not mature.

But now we can see that she is a mature woman. And she is also a
mother. Her husband is content because she has provided a child for him. The
Bible does not actually mention the child. But we know about peopleís attitudes
at the time of Solomon. Solomon needed a son who would be the king after him.
So, when the boy was born, Solomon would be content.

As our love for God increases, we do not want to satisfy our own
desires. Instead, we gladly do whatever God wants us to do. We forget our own
plans. His plans are much more important.

Verses 11-12

Many people produced fruit for Solomon. His palaces were large
and he needed plenty of fruit. For most people, the production of fruit was
just a business. They were working for the king. But they did not love the
king.

The queenís own *vineyard also produces fruit for Solomon. So she
too is working for Solomon. But there is an important difference. She works for
Solomon because she loves him. So she does not ask for any money. She gladly
gives everything that she has to him.

The queenís *vineyard is better than the other *vineyards. Their
fruit is only worth 1000 pieces of silver. But the fruit from her *vineyard is
worth 1200 pieces of silver. Her *vineyard is more successful because of her
love. And she is generous with her workers.

Many people know God, but they do not really love him. Some
people work for God merely in order to earn money. Perhaps they are selfish. Or
perhaps they are not yet mature Christians (Philippians 1:15-17).

But people who really love God are glad to work for him. They do
not care about money (Philippians 4:12). They only care about Godís plans.

A final word

Solomon

v13††† Let me
hear your voice from the garden, my *dear.

††††††††† My friends
are waiting to hear you speak.

The young woman

v14††† Come with
me, my lover.

††††††††† Be like a
*gazelle

††††††††† or a young
*deer on the mountains of *spice.

Verse 13

Solomon asked his queen to end the Song. Her words were special
to him. And God also wants to hear our prayers (Luke 11:9; 1 Thessalonians
5:17; Revelation 5:8).

Verse 14

The queen reminds Solomon about her earlier words in 2:17. At
that time, she told him to go way. But now she invites him to join her.

Together, they will be like strong, graceful animals. They will
climb the most wonderful mountains (4:8). They will enjoy the smells of
beautiful plants (4:13-16). They will explore the country that Solomon rules
(7:11). And they will learn to love each other even more deeply.

Jesus said, ĎLove God. Love him with all your heart. Love him
with all your spirit. Love him with all your mind. Love him with all your
strength... And love other people as much as you love yourself. No other laws
are as important as these lawsí (Mark 12:30-31).

Word List

bee ~ a type of insect.

cedar ~ a type of tall tree, or wood from the cedar tree.

chariot ~ a vehicle with two wheels. A horse pulls it.

dear ~ someone that you love in a special way.

deer ~ an animal.

dew ~ small amounts of water that appear on the ground
during the night.

dove ~ a bird.

fig ~ a fruit.

flock ~ a group of sheep, goats or other animals.

fragrance ~ a smell, usually good.

gazelle ~ an animal.

grape ~ a small soft fruit.

incense ~ a *spice that produces a sweet smell.

ivory ~ part of an elephant (called the Ďtuskí). It is
hard and white. People use ivory to make beautiful things.

jewel ~ a precious stone.

leopard ~ a dangerous animal.

lotus ~ a flower.

mandrakes ~ a plant with white flowers; part of the plant
can look like a person.

marble ~ a very hard material; it is similar to stone; it
can have colours.

mare ~ a female horse.

myrrh ~ something that comes from trees; people use it in
*incense.

necklace ~ precious stones that people wear round their
neck.

palm ~ a tree.

parapet ~ a low wall at the edge of a roof.

perfume ~ a sweet smell.

pomegranate ~ a fruit which is the size of an orange.

raven ~ a black bird.

sandal ~ a shoe that is open at the top.

seal ~ a material, usually with a design. People use it to
make an envelope, or something similar, safe.

Shulamite ~ the woman may be called the Shulamite because
she comes from a town called Shulem.

shepherd ~ someone who looks after sheep.

shield ~ a piece of metal that a soldier uses to protect
himself.

spice ~ a special plant that has a strong smell and taste.
People use spices to make *incense and *perfume.